Happy Sunday! This week leading up to Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to think about how we nourish ourselves. Obviously the first thought that comes to mind is all about the food that we eat. That is certainly a part of it. There are so many other ways however, in which we nourish our bodies and our minds. There is a story that I have heard told a few times by one of my teachers, Anne Marie. It is the story of two wolves who live inside us. These wolves seem to be fighting each other constantly. One wolf represents our fears, anxieties, self-doubt and criticism. The other wolf represents self-love and devotion, kindness, patience and grace. The question that is always in play, is which wolf wins and the answer is always, whichever one you feed the most. How we think about ourselves, the company we keep, the habits we keep and indulge in are all ways in which we feed one of those two wolves. Even the words we choose to speak, read and write, are ways in which we nourish the wolves inside us. When we practice yoga and meditation we engage the opportunity to really become conscious of how our choices are affecting us both physically and emotionally. How we hold a pose, how we breathe are indications that can clue us in to whether the choices we are making are working for us or against us. For example, if we are in a particularly challenging pose and we keep focusing on all of the reasons that we can't do it, and we hold our breath, we are most certainly feeding into our own self doubt and criticism. If in the next moment we take a deep breath and focus on what it is that we CAN do, what feels good, we create an opportunity to let grace in and feed into our own patience, kindness and self-love. So often we come to moments in our life when we feel depleted. We might feel tired and that we have nothing to give. In my 16 months of being a mom, I have come up against this several times already. We look at the world around us and we see that same depletion. What's important about this moment is how we then choose to move forward from it. We can continue to feed into the depletion by feeding the deficit, i.e. focusing on whats wrong or turning to habits that don't help. For me, when I'm feeling at my most depleted, all I usually want to do is sit on the couch, eat junk food and watch really bad television. While in the moment it feels like it's helping, I usually walk away from that scenario having gained nothing of substance. It does nothing to help me move out of feeling the way I was feeling in the first place, and instead I just procrastinated doing any of the real, constructive work. I have fed the "bad wolf". If instead, I make the choice to do something that when I walk away from it, I feel positively changed in someway, I notice a huge difference. I may choose to meditate, to practice, to read a good book or even sometimes just sit quietly with a cup of tea or chat with a good friend. Walking away from these things, I almost always notice how alive I am, how grateful I am and instantly the way I feel and the world I see in front of me changes. I think an important thing to remember is that when one of these wolves has a moment of conquering the other, it is not a permanently won battle. We have to continue to check in and to make conscious choices about how we nourish ourselves. Just as the bad wolf can win today, the good wolf can win tomorrow. We have to stay awake and aware day after day and choose over and over and over again, how we want to be and interact with ourselves and in our life. It would be as if practicing one really amazing yoga class would heal your heart, mind and body forever so that you wouldn't ever have to practice again. This is why it is so vital that we show up as often as possible so that we can "keep it real" with ourselves constantly. Where am I today? How am I seeing the world and myself? What am I choosing that is hurting? What am I choosing that is helping? Also knowing that everything is impermanent so to be grateful for the good days and hopeful in the bad, is really helpful. This week, as we move into a new season of thanks and giving, I encourage us all to not just focus on how we fill ourselves up from our plates, but how we nourish our hearts, mind and soul as well. What is one action, verse, song, or person that you can look to in those moments when you just need to feed the good wolf? Please share with me below in the comments! Also sign up here to access this weeks yoga class all about nourishment, as well as all the previous classes. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy and nourishing Thanksgiving. Namaste.
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Yesterday I centered our class all around love and and the Loving-Kindness meditation. It seems to be exactly what is needed right now. In a week of feeling so deeply and so many emotions, I am recognizing the importance to continue to draw love to the surface so that it doesn't get buried underneath everything else. For our own sake, for our loved one's sake and for the entire world. Say and feel it all because it is all important, but at the end of the day remember to draw from, act from and choose from love first. It's how the good guys always win. So that you can access it whenever needed this week and beyond, I am posting the loving-kindness mediation below. If you want to join in and take yesterday's class, please sign up over on the classes page! Happy Monday everyone. Love, love, love to you all. This is a meditation for loving-kindness Sitting comfortably, close your eyes and take a few settling breaths. Bringing your attention to your heart. Beginning with yourself, for it is impossible to love others without loving yourself first, repeat the following silently at your heart: May I be filled with lovingkindness May I be safe from inner and outer dangers May I be well in body and mind May I be at ease and happy Inhale and hold. Exhale. For those who have taught you to love. Your parents, teachers, lovers and inspirations: May you be filled with lovingkindness May you be safe from inner and outer dangers May you be well in body and mind May you be at ease and happy Inhale and hold. Exhale. For those in your life whom it is easy to love. Who effortlessly draw love from your heart: May you be filled with lovingkindness May you be safe from inner and outer dangers May you be well in body and mind May you be at ease and happy Inhale and hold. Exhale. For those who you struggle to love and understand. Who perhaps it seems as though to love them would be impossible: May you be filled with lovingkindness May you be safe from inner and outer dangers May you be well in body and mind May you be at ease and happy Inhale hold. Exhale. This week has been filled will all kinds of information and energy circulating around us and everywhere we look. I have watched intently as people everywhere feel compelled to speak their truth and spread it around to as many people as possible. I have absolutely been an active participant in this. There have been moments where it has felt as though my Vishuddha (throat) chakra was going to explode if I didn't tell everyone exactly how I felt right then and there. There has been great passion behind my words and in my heart and even a few tears have been shed on account of how strongly I feel about what I have to say. Then I stumbled upon a teaching from one of my very first teachers, Anne Marie, where she said "Who you are speaks louder than what you say". In a moment, my throat softened, my eyes dried and the corners of my mouth turned upward with a knowing smile. I realized that my truth exists regardless of how many people I tell it to. Even more importantly, my truth exists regardless of how many people I convince to believe in it. In such a moment in our history where we all want to be heard, I wonder if we are forgetting to listen, and not to each other (although always important), but to ourselves? Are you able to stand on your own two feet, close your eyes and take on that knowing smile that you are comfortably, undeniably standing in your truth regardless of what is buzzing around you? I think about this in terms of practicing yoga. The yoga exists regardless of what you are doing in the pose. Whether we fall out of or master a yoga pose, we are still in the practice of becoming aware and bringing into union our breath, body, mind and heart. If we are standing in tree pose and we fall, nothing happens. If we finally nail that handstand after months of trying, nothing happens. The greater truth of yoga is that the pose itself is actually irrelevant. It's HOW you practice the yoga that matters. To be clear, in no way am I discouraging the importance of saying what you need to say when you need to say it. I am a great lover of words and believe strongly in writing and speaking in a way that is filled with passion and honesty (hello I write a blog!). The real test is to walk away from those words and not be concerned with how they land. When we speak from truth and then stand in that truth, we can be sure that at some point, we and what we say will resonate with someone. We can also be sure that with someone else, it will not. As this week progresses, intensifies and eventually falls from the peak of that intensity, can we really bring the practice and truth of yoga off the mat and into the world? Regardless of outcomes and upsets, victories and defeats can we remain standing in what we know to be true? Can we continue to place value not just in our words, but in HOW we move through our daily poses. Michael Franti said that "If you think you need love right now, the truth is that love needs you". I say, if you think the world needs your truth right now, the truth is so do you. Peace, Love and Namaste everybody. |
Sara Packardis a Mama, Wife, Yoga and Meditation Teacher, Coach, Writer and Activist. You can read more about her here. Archives
September 2021
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